United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the United States of America. For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation).

United States of America

Flag

Great Seal

Motto: In God We Trust (official) E Pluribus Unum (traditional)

Anthem:

"The Star-Spangled Banner"

Washington, D.C. Capital

Largest city Official language(s) National language Demonym Government

New York City None at federal level[a] English (de facto)[b] American Federal presidential constitutional republic

President Vice President Speaker of the House Chief Justice Legislature Upper House Lower House Independence

Barack Obama (D) Joe Biden (D) John Boehner (R) John Roberts Congress Senate House of Representatives from the Kingdom of Great Britain July 4, 1776 September 3, 1783 June 21, 1788

Declared Recognized Current constitution

Area 9,826,675 km2 [1][c](3rd/4th) Total 3,794,101 sq mi Water (%) 6.76 Population 2011 estimate 312,842,000[2] (3rd) 33.7/km2 Density 87.4/sq mi GDP (PPP) 2011 estimate Total $15.065 trillion[3] (1st) Per capita $48,147[3] (8th) GDP (nominal) 2011 estimate Total $15.065 trillion[3] (1st) Per capita $48,147[3] (15th) Gini (2007) 45.0[1] (39th) HDI (2011) Currency Time zone Summer (DST) Date formats Drives on the Internet TLD Calling code 0.910[4] (very high) (4th) United States dollar ($) (USD) (UTC5 to 10) (UTC4 to 10) m/d/yy (AD) right .us .gov .mil .edu +1

^ a. English is the official language of at least 28 statessome sources give a higher figure, based on differing definitions of "official".[5] English and Hawaiian are both official languages in the state of Hawaii. ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. ^ c. Whether the United States or the People's Republic of China is larger is disputed. The figure given is from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. Other sources give smaller figures. All authoritative calculations of the country's size include only the 50 states and the District of Columbia, not the territories. ^ d. The population estimate includes people whose usual residence is in the fifty states and the District of Columbia, including noncitizens. It does not include either those living in the territories, amounting to more than 4 million U.S. citizens (most in Puerto Rico), or U.S. citizens living outside the United States.

The United States of America (also called the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean. At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[6] The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity).[3][7] Indigenous peoples descended from forebears who migrated from Asia have inhabited what is now the mainland United States for many thousands of years. This Native American population was greatly reduced by disease and warfare after European contact. The United States was founded by thirteen British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their right to self-determination and their establishment of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated the British Empire in the American Revolution, the first successful colonial war of independence.[8] The current United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791. Through the 19th century, the United States displaced native tribes, acquired the Louisiana territory from France, Florida from Spain, part of the Oregon Country from the United Kingdom, Alta California and New Mexico from Mexico, and Alaska from Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over the expansion of the institution of slavery and states' rights provoked the Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, its national economy was the world's largest.[9] The SpanishAmerican War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. It emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for 41% of global military spending,[10] and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[11]